Society

-- Over 34,200 people in working age is unemployed now in the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh, according to provincial authorities.   

-- Police in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho arrested four people on Wednesday, when they were staying in Ho Chi Minh City, after the group kidnapped a 14-year-old girl, demanding VND1 billion (US$47,600) as ransom.

-- Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung demanded Wednesday that health officials curb the current measles outbreak that has claimed the lives of at least 119 children since the disease recurred in Vietnam late last year.

-- Vietnamese prosecutors proposed at an appeal court on Wednesday that the court uphold the death sentence for Duong Chi Dung and Mai Van Phuc, former chairman and CEO, respectively, of state-owned Vietnam National Shipping Lines, who allegedly violated state regulations on economic management, causing over VND367 billion ($17.4 million) in losses to the state’s coffers between 2007 and 2009. The two and their accessories have been charged with pocketing $1.666 million of the amount. The court continues today.

Business

-- French aircraft manufacturer Airbus has chosen Nikkiso Vietnam Company, based in Hanoi, to produce composite vertical bars and the armor plates of Sharklet wingtip devices for A320s under sub-contracts with another supplier.

-- Vietnam’s trade surplus with the U.S. topped $4.5 billion in the first quarter of this year, according to the latest Vietnam Customs figures.

Lifestyle

-- A book of poems by a Vietnamese poet was published in Albania on Wednesday. The book, Zanore në vesë (Vowels in the early morning dew), will be on display at a book fair in the European country on Thursday.  

Sports

-- Vietnamese club Hanoi T&T will take on Myanmar’s Nay Pyi Taw in the round of 16 at the 2014 AFC Cup, an Asian football (soccer) competition for clubs, on May 14 after the Vietnamese finished their group stage with 15 points following a 2-1 win over Arema Indonesia on Wednesday. The other Vietnamese club, Vissai Ninh Binh, will play India’s Churchill Brothers in the same round on May 13.